[Chinese BG novel] 还有这种好事儿？[快穿] by 兰桂 / Is there such a good thing?

Previously mentioned in short reviews, I started it and relatively liked it, this time I remembered about it and realized it was finished, so I picked up from where I left.

Summary: Shen Yunxuan was reborn. But she was not the only one who was reborn. Someone around her is always vying her previous "good life" that others envied, but actually it was a life of hardships and dancing around to get herself better. So she readily gave it away. What she didn't expect that this time she found her own happiness.

Note: Shen Yunxuan is like a same person and different at the same time. She is reborn in every life, but her previous world memories are sealed like a book (literally) and she can open and experience it, but she starts as if she's a new and separate human being. Each life is her rebirth and a new life she chooses for herself.

Note 2: All MLs are different, she finds a perfect lover in her lives. But it's half and half, sometimes she has a prtner and half the time she doesn't, some are purely background characters.

Ngl this novel has some of that pretentious feel that Shen Yunxuan is so good and so down to earth etc. Like she can be described by her own worlds and constant reminder to herself - rebirth isn't everything, you must work hard, don't chase success and take one step at a time. I can even quote some of that.

Don't believe in the memories of the previous life. Many things are not what they seem on the surface, and memory will subconsciously beautify some things and uglify others. You must look at things objectively in combination with reality so as not to be confused by memories.

It's all good, but compared to the person who tries to steal her "good life" she's truly like too good, but it doesn't mean she's a saint.

Basically opposite of the things that another reborn person does, usually it's a close relative like a sister who is always a jealous type, pretty one-dimensional to me.

The interesting part of this novel is not just those worlds, they're pretty basic stories, but the fact that some things are quite hidden behind the facade. What people envy is not actually a true and happy life. Previous Shen Yunxuan suffered a good deal of injustice just to turn the opinion of other people so they could support her while she is in such unfavorable conditions.

Now spoliers. I usually started to type these, because there are too many QTs, even this author wrote quite few and not to mix them up in my head like which novel had which arcs and which events I keep track of them. Ngl this novel tends to be more memorable than others as a result. I made a long pause and did not return to this novel for a long time, but I still remember some of the striking moments of the previous life and the new life in few arcs that I read.

World 1. In previous life SYX was arranged to marry a family that have a saving grace to her grandfather. She is not welcomed in her own home so she couldn't truly decide and went with the decision, while her sister married a wealthy person. her wealthy husband didn't like her, her mother-in-law was the same, later her husband met with accident and her happy wealthy life expired. On the contrary SYX was rumored to be a happy wealthy wife. But what truly happened is that SYX had dealt with all those old and almost feudal rules of her husband's family before they started the business, she was the only one cut for it, but she walked around with her husband, so the glory spread on her husband's head instead of her own. But the family stayed quiet because otherwise what could they do, SYX became quite powerful.

In this life SYX married the wealthy husband, she figured that the accident of her husband was nto an accident and she hinted that there is something going on, which allowed them to uncover a full asssassination plan of the uncle's family of her husband. Thus she saved her husband thanks to the slip from the reborn girl. Unlike the reborn girl SYX's current husband deeply loved her, she had awesome relationship with her mother-in-law and on the contrary the reborn girl was waiting for her husband to do business, but he actually wanted to do a civil job and when things did not go well there were conflicts of course. 

World 2. Here Yunxuan is a movie queen. She started as a stand-in in her previous life, because she was allocated such role after she got late (she was saving a dog). But the dog belonged to the actress of the crew where she would be a stand-in, thus she got close to that person. And of course because she was not humble or overbearing she got along well with others and got more and more chances to get started. The reborn girl is another actress, she gave the role that did not make any splashes in her previous life to SYX, while she herself tried for the stand-in, thinking others will see her acting skills, will be amazed and will offer her roles etc. She had no idea about the whole dog situation.

SYX on the contrary acted like a business woman (learned from previous life) to negotiate with the crew and investors to change the script of her current series and make it better, her negotiations convicted others and the script was changed, basically becoming a big hit after its' release. Thus saving SYX many steps she walked in the previous life. She worked bit by bit to also become a big person herself, while the reborn person waited for success, but only had the same mediocre ending as in previous life.

World 3. Messy ancient story, but pretty impressive when you ask about previous life. Yunxuan was married off to upcoming general, but was humiliated by her husband and left without consumating the marriage. In ancient times it's a big no-no. Basically her husband had a White Moonlight figure and used her as a shield. When he returned he also brought the woman back living with them, but by that time Yunxuan had the trust and dependance of his parents and due to filial piety he couldn't move her much. She agreed, but with one condition, his children will be her children and he will nto marry his sweetheart officially. As it happened she never gave birth to her own children as a result and deeply regretted it. The reborn girl is from her family, she was sent to the palace but ended in the cold palace really quickly. But she heard about the glorious SYX. SYX might have been glorious, awarded a title and it was only when her husband finally died and her children were filial to her she had peace.

In this life things were switched, she was sent to the palace, but unlike the reborn girl she actually understood teh character and the needs of the Emperor, who did not want to see power struggles and especially in his harem, he wanted peace and hated all those intrigues (the reborn girl thought she was good at). So Emperor truly fell in love with SYX who helped him not only to manage the harem well, but also promoted a lot of things that will allow their country prosper. She also gave birth to the awaited child. She wasn't the queen at first, but due to some harem intrigue eventually the queen fell from grace.

Unlike her happy life the reborn girl met with the dilemma of the White Moonlight, more like a Green Tea Bitch, there was a lot of noise, her in-laws were not on her side, because she is restless, there was a lot going on witht his family and the relatives, quite a melodrama I'd say.

World 4. Chronology aka 70- 80'ss. SYX of previous life married a battalion commander, because she was disliked by her family they married her to a man with pretty grown-up kids. In those times a second marriage is a stain, but not for men. What other did not know that only several events helped her to tackle the two rebellious children and move into the army with her husband. Because her husband was a chauvinist she had no other chance but to survive as she was, by befriending other officials' wives and doing meritorious things whenever she could. Because there was an episode where his last wife who believed him dead came back and wanted to reunite and her husband was tempted, but she used her connections to give him a warning and because his ambition was larger than anything he had to tame himself down, even if he sent money to ex-wife. Only because SYX was rewarded he had to cut off that last contact. 

This time she was thrown to the marriage arranged for her sister. In those times people believed that such a prosperous family was really good, even if the son was called "idle". Her sister knew that she will prosper as a military wife, thus she played the drowning scene where she was saved by someone and eventually they had to change marriage partners. At first this was a fake marriage based on mutual benefits. Also her new in-laws were better than previous ones and they treated her well, so she connected with them, but because SYX knew the future she could guess where this family will end up. She started from small business before she turned out to be the first female entrepreneur in their city, the family was convinced by her to leave the "iron rice bowl" and start their business according to what each person likes. Including her husband. Thing is the sister did not understand her husband in previous life, she thought too he was idle, but SYX knew that it wasn't true, he was not fitted for work that existed, but it doesn't mean he is idle completely and talentless. Unlike her sister the husband truly fell in love with SYX for all the good things, not the prosperity she brought, but because she trusted him and believed in him, she also supported the entire family and guided everyone to be better. SYX did a lot of stuff with her position, like promoting business, supporting people and education.

It's interesting to know that she was switched at birth, unexpected turn of events! She believed that due to her position and her photos never reaching newspapers in previous life her biological mother always believed that she gave birth to stillborn and never found her, so she had no idea about her true origins. This time she was seen in newspaper and was found by her family. Who knew the Shen family would exchange babies just not to bear the stigma/bad luck.

But I think this switched at birth was also used as a tool to separate her from the Shen family, the thing is filial piety was such a big thing back than and being unfilial was such a sin (at least this is what I brought from many-many novels), but how can she prosper without being held back by her family that will surely will come to share her success - separate the family completely and make them not related by blood.

World 5. Popular live broadcasting metaphysics. This has actually interesting premise with SYX having a very good luck, but she was plotted against by Xie family when she saved their grandson, this wealthy family knew about metaphysics and set up an array to suck out her luck, she had no idea about it, the first thing she realized is that her husband is not faithful and has a mistress outside who is his close assistant and they had a son, but it was not all they kept her for her luck and treated her so well only because the magic would work if she was willing to be part of their family, while now she wanted to leave so she was detained with no way to escape (she could only see her "good" husband and his mistress who had plastic surgery to look like her parade as a good family with their illegitimate son, she had no identity from that day), since she was just a person and not a practitioner, but she had her own luck, she met a master before being detained and befriended him, they talked and she had talent to understand metaphysics but no chance to practice it with her body. Eventually she resisted after a careful study and planning, basically sacrificing herself for a chance to reincarnate. So her fate in that life was to survive the calamity. She is reborn, but her good sister from company is also reborn and switched their fates. Meaning that SYX now has Yin-Yang eyes of that girl who never used them properly and also can cultivate, but her luck is the worst, to the point of choking on water. So SYX set off on the path of cultivation, she practices accumulating merits by doing good deeds and the power of faith from those who believe in her to cultivate. She also found a loophole, like her bad luck can be given to others with a double, it's like an exchange, she gives something with a goodwill (money usually) but if the other side has malicious intent towards her they will have bad luck before they admit their mistakes. I find this interesting. Her journey started badly, because she was blackened a lot on the network, she was a signed artist but the opinion was manipulated a lot as if she was the evil of it all and everyone around her were her victims, especially her good sister and the "good sister" stole her "good chance" to marry into the wealthy family and used this opportunity to suppress her. But good comes in hand with the bad and vice versa. Because SYX did good deeds she could offset her bad luck and escape at the critical moment each time, like even if those were bad times but each time had an opportunity she could grab, but the reborn girl did only bad things and was on the path of destruction. This world also of course has metaphysics world, basically a supervision department and a bunch of sects we know nothing about except the one who is responsible for the bad deeds. And SYX also remembers that she has enmity with that sect, who was responsible for setting that luck-sucking array in the previous life and helping to detain her. It's quite an entertaining arc actually. Although several cases of help via life broadcasting feels like any other novel, but still was interesting to read.

Wolrd 6. Ancient plane. This time the one who replaced SYX is a man, all the previous ones were girls. The situation in this one is as follows. In previous life SYX was sent as a maid to a wealthy Li family in the county. She did a lot of mistakes before she reached some sort of stability. After becoming better at cooking she caught the eye of the young master of the Li family. Since then she still had to thread with caution in the backyard, before the official wife of this master could not give birth and she was allowed to birth a son, as she did. Slowly but surely she also educated her son when she saw his lawless attitude and brought him to be a better person. Because master Li was chosen to be the next magistrate the family slowly rose to fame. And SYX had a somewhat good ending as a result. But because she was sent without consent of her parents, later her father had an accident while hunting and died, her mother was devastated and also died mostly due to neglect and by the Shen family with old man who always spoke that they all should support the only son in three room Jiayao, but never supported their third son who actually earned the most money and was the most honest. Due to these events she never conacted the Shen family who were in decline, since Jiayao was nto cut out for studying. Thus reborn Jiayao had no idea about the undercurrents of the Li family and that the young master isn't a good person, so he had no idea that when he decided to change SYX and become Li master's book boy instead he was entering a fire pit. He planned to follow master Li when he would be chosen to be next magistrate and basically use this as opportunity to study more things outside of what was taught in their school. But things did not go as planned. It's not as simple as just changing someone of course, a lot of interprsonal cause and effect are involved witin this arc.

First of all SYX caused trouble within the Shen family when it came to selling her off, then she asked an old widow help adopt her parents, then she married the missing grandson of this widow. In previous life she liked to cook and now strived to open her business. She started from scratch and slowly rose to fame, befriended the county magistrate and also made achievements that were praised by the emperor, those were what let the country prosper and were either found earlier or beyond times. So she became a county lady and later even adopted by emperor. The husband was saved unlike last life and brought honor as great general. So her parents and the grandma rose from being simple farmers to the family close to emperor.

On the other side Jiayao made a trouble with SYX but instead implicated his own future and was retaliated. With his inbalanced heart of living a life worse than previous one and making all the wrong choices, like any reborn person in this novel basically, I don't think we get a conclusion, but he went a bit crazy. Old man Shen who preferred sons over daughters met the same fate as his own mother, not being treated or fed and dying under the guise of - you did it too, you said it yourself, don't drag the family. The family separated and only the older cousin still stayed with Li family as stand-in for SYX, but because she got pregnant early she never had the chance to raise her son and also did not have a good life in the backyard. Also full of regret. The entire family were laughed at for losing such a precious person and oppressing her all her life and now all her achievements have nothing to do with her, since SYX was written as the only woman into the giology tree of her family.

World 7. Transmigrating withing transmigrating.

What an ideallistic picture. I will try to sum it up quickly because I found it rather boring to read, the idea isn't bad but I couldn't care. 

This is the second time SYX is against a reborn man. He forced her to bind a system that forces a person to travel to a different plane every 1st of the month. The guy was a "stallion" in previous life, chased SYX but she refused so he created an image of her being his white moonlihgt and all women around him hated her. But he disappeared, not we know he died in a different plane.

When SYX first traveled to a different plane she was scared, next she tried to get ready for it, but realizing that this psycho still doesn't want to let her go or worse, use or betray her, she remembered that she encountered a person in last life and she used the same even to save him and allow him to witness what she can do.

Then she handed herself to the country. From initial discovery to setting a special bureau to investigate and travel to different planes SYX and a team went to several planes, collected al types of stuff and knowledge and cultivated step by step. They also brought all the spoils back. With approval she made herself physically better and increased her IQ (sometimes did not show up, but was mention a ton), since the safety of everyone around her depended on her. She advanced by great speed, before she arrived at the cultivation world where she refined system into her natal weapon. Thing is she used the power of faith from different worlds she helped to get better and converted that and merits as in previous arc about metaphysics.

The guy who lurked around her was apprehended and interrogated a lot, ppl figured he's reborn, recorded him and let him go, since he was basicallu useless. But later he committed a crime and was offed.

I say ideallistic is because it's again SYX saying stuff like making a small progress, widen her horizon. Everyone around her is full of admiration and stuff. She's also never arrogant about her achievements and thinks others are better than her, or at least says so too. A big pat on the back. But honestly because she just travelled to other worlds and it's just a short retelling of what happened. Thinking back that even the idea of system being a natal weapon isn't new. Maybe the travelling withing travelling and using those planes as a background is fun, but it's all just short description without much else. But feels like an ideallistic dream/

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Was it entertaining? I think, compared to things I've read recently indeed it was. It has a better style than previous from this author, a quick read, less aggressive? Probably a good message included. But the overall framework is the same, each world has the dumbest person who wants to take shortcuts and with their two braincells decide to steal things from SYX, while not making any progress. Compared to our FMC it's a negative example. On the contrary SYX is super good, neither high nor overbearing, very low-key and hardworking, appreciates her second chance and ability to have a better life. Although actually she did succeed in many of her lives, even if her path was thorny. Now she has a chance to be reborn and live a good life.

RATE: 4/5.

[NOVEL] Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

NOTICE TO STAFF: There has been a disturbing increase in cheeriness, sprightly behavior, and overall optimism of late. Please resume your former dark, ominous terrors at your earliest convenience. ―Mgmt

Evie Sage has never been happier to be the assistant to The Villain. Who would have thought that working for an outrageously handsome (shhh, bad for his brand) evil overlord would be so rewarding? Still, the business of being bad is demanding, the forces of good are annoyingly persistent, and said forbidding boss is somewhat…er, out-of-evil-office.

But Rennedawn is in grave trouble, and all signs―Kingsley’s included―point to catastrophe. Something peculiar is happening with the kingdom’s magic, and it’s made The Villain’s manor vulnerable to their enemies...including their nemesis, the king.

Now it’s time for Evie to face her greatest challenge: protecting The Villain’s lair, all of his nefarious works, and maybe (provided no one finds out) the entire kingdom. No pressure, Evie.

It’s time to step out of her comfort zone and learn new skills. Like treason. Dagger work. Conspiring with the enemy. It’s all so…so…delightfully fun.

But what happens when the assistant to The Villain is ready to become his apprentice?

Assistant to the Villain series. Book 2

With the first book I could be forgiving, but the second book should do more, but it did less for me. I still like the world, no matter how small and empty it actually is, if you truly dig for it, and I like the wit of the characters and the banter and also I'm not against of what happened in the end and the reveal. But it felt like the book needed more work? At least it's in my case.

I only like Kingsley more and more.

My problem #1. The world still feels empty. This one I was forgiving about in the first book, but it actually feels empty. Even if we hear about places and visit them, but mainly the world and how it was built feels a bit underdeveloped. Maybe mainly it's the descriptive problem. A lot of the time the scenes will switch really fast but they still feel like they could have some work done and have more description to give an idea of what is happening, to fill the scene more. And I point it out because so many times the two main characters will have at least three passages about their untimely pining for each other.

My problem #2. Pining that never stopes. I think the author used too much of description of how they want each other and how they affect each other all the time. Don't get me wrong if the man I was interested in would be near me I would be well aware, but when it comes to untimely situations I still think it would be more organic to pour out different emotions. And most importantly, too much tension is not great, by the middle of the book when there was finally progress I honestly was already mad, like you can't be seriously making them come closer, almost having scenes where they're plastered together and then do it all over again before they finally make that last step. And we don't talk about something more than simply kissing. That tension was so overworked that when things happened I was just tired how mispaced these antics were.

Problem one turns into problem two. Since the world and the plot don't have much filling, a lot of it is replaced by the pining. This turns into my problem number three.

My problem #3. Due to pining the plot stumbles on its way. The pace of this book felt so much slower. I felt like nothing was happening, because we had too much attention on "emotions". Honestly, I think with this amount of text we get that they love each other to death, it's destiny, it's like they saw each other and it was that magnetism and them working together opened this new path. But honestly because they had so much time, the plot had less time. I still feel weird that everything that happened were like.. three trips to different places and the final, fourth one was what mattered. The first trip was okay. Though beats me every time how are they found by Valiant Guards, like we're def in the movie where they know how to enter the scene. The second trip to the Heart Village did nto move me. That scene in the basement was weird, like they were supposed to be underwater, but there were windows and they smashed one and water poured in so they could drown, but then Villain's sister and the healer appear in that same window? Like my brain was catching on the mechanics so much. The third trip too. Although has such a potential with so many magical flowers and stuff, but I couldn't care less about Becky's mother motivation since she barely had the chance to explain herself or showcase it somehow, like there is no intrigue in that place before the Valiant Guards come and boom we find things out.

My problem #4. More said than done. A lot of things suffer from this. I like when authors showcase some things through actions, it is more interesting to pick things up, but sometimes it's more of the what is said and not what is done case.

/SPOILERS/

I'm surprised this will have at least 4 books. While I think the content could have been either shortened or expanded. Like okay the content of the first book was the mystery of who betrayed the villain. It is cool to find out that there is a magical ink that can help to copy what is written in the journal, thus there was no direct traitors, there is only one unknowing one and that is Evie, who was betrayed by her father. So also because it's the first book I was forgiving of some obvious flaws. The content of the second book is how we save the Villain from the king who is all about the Rennedawn profecy. And what the prophecy reads is as follows:

The person who saves the magical lands will take fate's youngling well in hand; when fate and starlight magic fall together, the land will belong to you forever. But beware the unmasked Villain and their malevolent dark, for nothing more dangerous than a blackened good heart.

Meaning that we already know that Evie's mother, who should not be dead holds the starlight magic, so sought by the king. We know that guvres mated and now await their child, which is basically the above mentioned youngling and fate, since these creatures are super magical. Villain is of course Trystan with his dark magic, while the last bit.. is Evie. Her journey is full of thorns, her path is full of betrayal from her father and disappointment fro others, like she is so tired of seeing the hurt, just because the king has his own plans, so her heart is blackens with all the advercities. I actually am quite fine with how this part played along, we start from this prophecy, we start from the cave with a weird godly creature, but we also end with the same prophecy realising what it means. Though it sounds cool, but mean little to me right now, like what are the mechanics, how things should come together.

Anyway, I was a tad bit disappointed with how it turned out. Maybe someone was expecting and they are loving all the love going on, but I only felt like there should be time and place for everything. I lacked depth to events that shaped our characters of what they are.

PS: I have a weird moment when I wanted them to react strongly, the moment we realize Lyssa basically is a little kid who helped her father escape, she is unprotected kid who believed her manipulative father. But she did not face any consequences.. So she was found in the dungeons, but honestly instead of being all sloppy she deserved to have some sense talked into her instead of people acting like they're afraid to hurt a little girl. You can't protect her forever, sometimes it's even worse than anything else. You raise the stakes so high, so much shit was bound to that magical creature, but the girl did not get even a raised voice. I'm against any other sort of dealing with this situation, but it felt like nothing matters eventually.

I start to like Kingsley more and more though. One fun frog.

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RATE: 3,25/5. I'll be honest. I was threading through this and it shows, since I managed to read two novels in between. I basically started this on 3rd of January, next day after the first book. Got 1/3 down. Got to the middle yesterday or so and actually finished the second half today, because at that time it felt like it finally picks up... not really.

I'm not saying that their romance is utterly bad and they should downsize, it is a slow-burn and there is a lot going on, they both have reasons to stay away though they can't, but I wanted something outside of this couple too. Even if it felt like things happened but our attention is always brought up to these two.

Also not mad at the multiple POVs, though it basically was needed to put into perspective what things happened back at the manor and what happened with the main cast.

[Chinese BL novel] 我当了十年反派后穿回来了 by 梨蓝蓝 / I was a villain for ten years before coming back

Summary: Wen Linyu was the type of person who will say "It's okay" even if he was intentionally hurt. Then he was suddenly taken to a different world where he had to play a villain. After ten years he returned and now when someone wanted to hurt him he would say the same excuse as he used to hear "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, but you will forgive me right?"

I'll say this right away, this is a 1-star novel for me. I've been messing around with BL tag today and looking for novels that might have been picked up, then saw this one and clicked to find out that instead f upcoming, this novel became completed. I mentioned this novel in the 'short reviews' post dated Nov 30, 2023, so it was quite a while ago.

The novel was completed in Nov of 2024. It was completed shortly, because it's just a 28 chapters long. And because of it, it became a big missed opportunity, a big miss, it fell so hard for me and did not meet my expectations at all.

It's one of those novels where the content of the summary does not correspond to the content of the novel itself.

So Linyu travels to another world, he grew up in a foster family who knew he's not biologica, his own parents threw him to this family for a reason he had no idea about, when he returned his life was no better, a marginal figure living a worse life than a gutter rat.

Then he travelled to another world and could not get rid of his cowardly and servile self. Ten years passed with a soul inside his body teaching him ways of cultivation. He got better and more sure about himsef, but then he suddenly returned and did not say goodbye, fearing his heart for the teacher.

The problem is, maybe he grew a bit, but he is not changed much, he is just more cruel to people who did harm to him and he paid it back, but usually he's still a good person. While the summary at JJ promised some fiery slap backs...

Now he realized that what his parents did was to steal his fortune / life. Which was done by an evil cultivator.

Because the novel is short it sounds like a sketch. There is no buuild-up, things go by very fast, he basically does few things to people who hurt him, including his parents.

The relationship part is a weird one. Gu Chi, the ML, makes the system send him to the world of Linyu where they meet. But now Linyu sees the face of Gu Chi (body he worse in the next world), who acts all close and clingy and creepy basically, but Gu Chi did not even mention that he's the teacher. He knows Linyu would want to see his teacher. Like they have a several chapter misunderstanding before Linyu catches up by himself... Anyway, the parents are backlashing like mad, the master behind them is found in one passage and sent topolice, everyone is happy.

It's such a waste. And then I saw the author and realized who they were and what they might have written before and realized that I initially did not hold much hope for this.. Better to say it was my last hope I think? Anyway, not recommend this author in general.

I really should have stuck with something else instead of wasting my evening on this.

RATE: 0/5. Like who is this saint who sacrificed art for the cover of this novel, I want to know them. I know that some covers can be used several times (not usually but it can happen, I saw it), but it's such a waste of good art on this.

[SHORT REVIEWS] #18

'Marriage first, love later' tag edition. It's going to be short. I was sitting and reading 'Assistant to the Villain' during this NY when my brain decided that I want to dive into the 'marriage first, love later' tag on JJ. I've already reviewed several novels before (more like a lot) that were more about a marriage agreement, marriage first love later is kinda similar thing, after all they marry first and love comes later, depending on the situation.

But after searching for a bit I picked up only four novels, one of them is on NU and I put my review here, I think at this moment my review is the only one lol. It is also the only novel out of four that I fully completed, it was short and it was nice, more on the mature side than some entertaining melodrama. I took a pick at other two, because I was intrigued because the premise of the FMC is pretty the same, adopted daughter, and it proved once again that JJ is very much copy-paste sometimes. The last one I just had a glimpse at the summary. I'm debating on continuing the Assistant series rn, because I found it trashy entertaining and while the first book is fresh in my head.

恃宠而婚 by 今婳

(mtl: Marrying for favor)

[BG] Completed. Summary: He Qingchi was asked what is her favorite type. She answered that they should be a sexy man with a six pack. But later her tastes changed, her criteria now is someone handsome, slender, always buttoned up and strict. ML is Wen Shuchen, a famous figure, a business tycoon.

This is the one I haven't started even, it got pretty high ranking and good rates, I'll see how it goes when I feel like it. The summary just mentioned Qingchi filming and I'm not feeling an entertainment article right now, I've read too many of them.

Note: I found this cover online. This novel on JJ has a default cover now, but I suppose it's the official cover of the mainland edition. I also found what should be the original JJ cover which is just white text on a pink watercolor blob background.

宜室宜婚 by 见星帘

(mtl: Suitable for marriage)

[BG] Completed. Summary: Song Yihe is an orphan adopted by the Song family. She is quiet and gentle. Except for the occasional care of the old man, almost no one takes her seriously. She is so transparent that she is incompatible with people in the circle.

She knows her duty very well - when she graduates from college, she will marry the young master of the He family.

But when she heard that the prospect marriage partner was changed to some douch, she took it upon herself to stop He Jingshi on a rainy night and offer the marriage.

I've read very little of it, the girl is sensible and gentle, the type I'm very quickly tired of, because they can be often be manipulated and this is what the situation is about, she is an adopted daughter and the Song family, the last son who stayed alive, wants to change her for resources. But honestly, girl, I understand the author might want to wrap it around filial piety, but what type of filial piety when the rest of your life is at stake. The rebellious thing she does is stop her previous fiance, He Jingshi, and she wants to get married. We start week after the events and they're already married. But honestly her meak reactions turned me down so much that I put it down and may not continue. He Jingshi might have been in love with her for a long time (of course, how else), but I don't want to stick around to find out.

京港回信 by 万莉塔

(mtl: Beijing-HongKong reply (?) Have no idea how this should be named, it's more like write back to a letter?)

[BG] Completed. Summary: Shi Hua(n) was fostered in the He family, and everyone knew that she grew up with He Heng as childhood sweethearts and they dated with a premise of getting married for several years, but when it came to engagement she already knew that He Heng was not fateful, but everyone around her made it sound like she is at fault for blocking a true love couple of He Heng and miss Xu.

Shi Huan turned her gaze upon the current ruler of the He family, He Yanting.

I have no idea if she is Huan or Hua, I don't want her to have a basic name of Hua, thus I left Huan, blame the MTL. 

It is an age gap romance, where FMC finds love with an older guy, plus the guy should have liked her for some years.. Anyway she is now a fresh graduate from a broadcasting major and landed a job at a TV station. I think she is a high-achieving student and person in general, it's pretty great what she achieved by herself. It's great that she basically threw out He Heng quite easily and actually used the presence of Yanting at the engagement party to make He Heng confess of his behavior. After all even if he's a part of the He family, ruining her reputation isn't that great.

i think this novel has a more melodramatic feel from the start, because we know pretty soon that He Heng still likes Shi Huan and he is with miss Xu only because of her illness, but we don't know if it's true or not. Later on he might think that she loves him and will wait for him.. yeah right. Shi Huan flash married Yanting.

But because she's a bit reserved and again the sensible type I'm a bit reserved too about continuing reading it atm.

[NOVEL] Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.

Assistant to the Villain series. Book 1

Note to myself after starting reading: Remind myself again to never trust review of others.

I really should listen to no one and do my own thing, this is my reaction.

Because I had fun.

I'm not unaware of its' flaws, but it's simply fun. Let me share my opinion on it.

First of all, you should read it more like fantasy+comedy combo, if you are aware of some older fantasy comedy movies then you will know with what I associated it with. I don't compare it to any existing titles like the Goodreads summary mentioned that it's like having 'Once upon a time' plus 'The Office', while I haven't watched or read any of the two, I just barely know what they're about. Thus I have my own impression of it.

It's duo POV, but each POV is described from the third person perspective like a narrator, instead of first person (which I appreaciate).

The book is a fun fantasy story with a lot of humor, some unexpected characters, easy plot (the main point of the story is in the summary), twist that suited me just fine and just a book for having a good time.

I loved the humor, I honestly laughed a lot I think, sometimes at the stupidest things maybe. Even if it seemed like everyone from the characters is on the same page when it comes to the sense of humor, but actually who cares, the pokes at each other are fun, the sudden turns are fun when it comes to Evie's point of attention.

The book has a tone of being ridiculous and two main characters fit that role, after all it's a comedy and they're a bit like two silly geese, unaware of each other. But they're not insufferable, trust me, I've read enough of those to say what is a dumb damsel and what is an FMC with issues and Evie Sage is just that, you catch that she's not simple from the get-go. The Villain fits the role of an unserious male protag from old fantasy comedies, maybe he's a handsome guy, but not without a fun edge.

/SPOILERS/

Evangeline Sage. Evie is a specific type of person. As I said she is pretty unafraid of things that happened to her, the initial chase with the Villain and her recruitment as his Assistant. It's not like she's devoid of fear, but she is not afraid wen it comes to him and his deeds. Maybe it's something intuitive, who knows.

Evie is smitten with her boss, she can't help but notice his handsome face and figure, but eventually the Villain did the things that others didn't, something that other might find awful, but she was grateful for even.

To some there was a lot of it in the text, but honestly I saw nothing bad with thinking your target is handsome. I mean I think I was too influenced by reading too many Chinese novels, where so much of the text is simply describing how someone is handsome or beautiful, so I saw nothing bad that Evie eyed her boss. If it was a cinema language which had no context but simply showed an attractive man, I'm pretty sure many female viewers would just gasp at it, then how are you better than Evie then? I just see no logic. It's only that she is afraid of voicing her feelings, but actually her motivation is that the Villain acts sometimes that she can't interpret, as if his feelings are polar opposite.

She is not an empty head, she does not idolizes him, she pokes her fun from time to time, her way of thinking is actually quite normal, it's just she voices her thoughts outloud. From personal experience I know that even at the moment when you should be sad you might get some unwelcomed and seemingly untimely thoughts. But no one indicated they can't visit your head. Because the book is not serious, her fits are quite appropriate to me. I even find them funny.

She has her own past, the moment I saw her actions I did not think she's dense or dumb, I saw my fair share of low IQ characters to say that she is not. She might be a klutz like a good cliche (reminds me of Evelyn from The Mummy (1999)). For her this employment actually became the best thing, since she's not really on good terms with others due to her own story, which is as following:

This world has magic, it's not fully explained, but some people are consumed by it if they are not guided appropriately, Evie's mother got her magic when she gave birth to her third child, daughter Lyssa. But then things went wrong. The out of control magic killed her firstborn child, son Gideon. And then she is said to disappear. What I took from it in the text is that she was gone, but not dead (my predition came true). From that point her father who was a retired Valiant Guard of the king settled down with two daughters, but eventually he fell ill with the Mystic Illness that plagues the kingdom, it's something that has no cure. Evie took it upon herself to take care of this family. Since long she dropped out of school to take care of the youngest girl and then she worked, so the burden was on her shoulders. It was a bit devastating to see that her ideallistic image was not what it was in real life.

The Villain, or Trystan. The Villain is described very cooly, but it is more cartoonish way I think? He is dark and handsome, always wears black and sometimes says funny things with a serious face. 

Deeply inside he likes Evie a lot and is afraid of it, he is afraid of what it may do to him and to her. He is ready to find his end underground, so he doesn't want to drag her down with him too.

For him Evie became the light.

Although he has enough of those similar reactions to Evie, but they have their own explanation too. Maybe some will find that he expresses his inner love left and right too many times and will not like it. Again, I see no trouble with that. Maybe you will find some situations to be inappropriate who knows.

In general his fascination with Evie lies in his past we find in the very last part. Due to his family and his father beaing always away as a healer and his mother not being the most loving mom in the world, Trystan lacked love. When his father made attempt to get closer he was already quite old. Then he was taken to the King to serve and King made him feel like he mattered, what he lacked all these years was said to the then naive Trystan, before he was betrayed. Now he became what others thought of him - The Villain. In that regard he existed for ten years before he met Evie, unlike others she did not react with fear, more like excitement and interest. And she made him feel like he mattered again. This time for real.

They both had the same side where they felt unwanted, unloved and that they don't matter, this united them. And this is why she became so important in his heart.

The Plot. Mainly revolves around the mystery of who has betrayed the Villain and infiltrated the Mansion. Some may find that there is not fantasy elements or they expected more action or some funny situations. But to me there was enough of those. The magic and fantasy were not the central piece but had enough space, the same goes for funny situations. The book is very easy in this regard.

I'm leaving the main spoiler of 'who did it' out, to at least leave some mystery behind. It's actually a nice twist to me, it's not like it can be traced, but it's not completely unexpected. It's a great turn for our FMC to grow and change.

I was actually waiting for some unexpected certain wow effect and I got it.

/-/

First of all, my advice to anyone, go into the story not reading any reviews or even a summary, go blind and with floor expectation. The lower your settings are, the better you can analyze things happening without any of that 'Oh, I thought it will have this or that'.

I say this because I heard people say that they were expecting more of actions, though the book has it. Like they expect more of evilness, though again the book has it. 

Certain lack of depth? But it's an easy-going book in general. And we do explore more into character eventually. They are not the pair of "IT girl" and she is so special that everyone goes after her like a heartthrob, she has her specialness though, and the hunk, who is invincible and devastatingly cool at all times. I think they're quite the opposite.

The plot itself may lack some complexity, but again what do you expect from a humorous story..

This just says how much different the interpretation can be and if you see someone not speaking in favor of something or on the contrary telling you something is a good book, you should take it with a laddle of salt. Simply because a person on YT is still a person, just the same reader as yourself and the number of subscribers does not make anyone's point of view more valid.

This what happened with 'Assistant to the Villain', I honestly was intrigued by it the moment I saw it, the title sounded fun and the overall premise sounded fun. But I had to put it off again and again, to the point where a second book managed to come out and I couldn't make myself pick it up, just because I saw few people being more or less just unimpressed to say the least. I was pretty afraid to be disappointed. 

Now I know that I'm not disappointed :) I had my fun. At least with the first book :D

Evil never dies.

RATE: 4,5 /5.

[MOVIE] How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

On the outskirts of Whoville lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch who plans to ruin Christmas for all of the citizens of the town.

It's interesting that for the New Year time it's the best to watch the old comedies or watch some old Christmas movies (though should not be even the same thing with NY conceptually).

I'm not sure I ever watched "How the Grinch stole Christmas", but I won't stress on that. It's sill a delight. Such a simple story and how ironic that maybe only a little girl Cindy Lou understands what Christmas is all about.

Jim Carrey can not be anything but brilliant. He is never afraid of those elaborate costumes and not-so-good characters. Like who can replace him?

Ngl I was having a blast with how they created this absolutely non-existent town and still left it with cartoonish style that could have easily be a thing of those years (and probably no one will risk it today?). It's fun, it's colorful. I'm sure the costume designers were having so much fun.

And I had my fun too.

This should be included in the category of movies you should watch at least once during this time (or multiple times if it's one of your favorites).

[NOVEL] A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Everyone in Little Kilton knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Little Kilton doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. Book 1

This was lovely. For a YA mystery book it was indeed quite lovely. I suppose I read the UK version? And also, I may be old for these book in age, but I never mind, sometimes reading about teens doing stuff is refreshing memories of how much of dumb shit can be dug from our own past. Just not as bad. in general I enjoyed the storyline, especially the pacing and the placement of all ups and downs so you're kept in that state of confusion (if you're not part of the brainy type).

Pip decided on her EPQ project theme to be the disappearance of the Andie Bell. With undeniable proof of Sal Singh's guilt that was found by the police the case was closed and the Singh family is now branded as a family of a murderer. But something always bothered Pip as a person who knew Sal personally, she just couldn't believe that such a kind young man was capable of doing what he's been charged with. Sal can't even defend himself because his body was found and he committed suicide out of guilt.

I'm not a person who likes to guess 'who did it'. If some ideas come into my head I may follow them, but otherwise I just like the feeling of a bit of a surprise coming. The only thing I thought about while reading - they couldn't be most obvious ones for sure (and I didn't guess exactly who, but certainly the category of not the obvious ones?). Holly Jackson managed to pace the book in such a way, so your conviction will constanty follow and change along with the main character. And because it's a YA, it may not be as dangerous as you think. Maybe a little bit.

This is how we follow Pippa on her journey to find out the truth. We see a lot of intricate relationships that keep getting interconnected and no one is as simple as they seem. Starting from Andie herself.

I saw comments that said stuff like - why people simply answered the girl's questions, but honestly why would they not? Sometimes strangers start to use you as a confession room and you surprised about this.. In many cases she reported who she was and what she's doing, but also I felt like there is a bit of disregard in people's attitude towards what Pippa did, "what can a young girl do?" that type of vibe. And another one is that how she was able to uncover what police was unable to... em, here I might argue. Real life is not a TV show with some genius detective that solves the crimes at count three, a lot of perpetrators are quite dumb when they commit something, so it's easy to investigate, but at other times police will follow the obvious path instead of theorizing. After all it's a missing person case, all evidence was against Sal Singh, what did they have to do? And yeah if they had some big head, which was the main character it might have been the case, but it's a YA mystery and our main girl is a teen "detective". Not comparing, but Nancy Drew somehow became the popular.. what was the word, sleuth? yeah, that's it.

Also what Pip asked and what she found are not grounbreaking things, it's just that there was no need to investigate further. While her agenda was different from everyone involved and for whom this case should better have stayed closed.

Not going to put any spoilers here, because books like these need their own reader to dig for the truth.

RATE: 4,75/5.